MovieChat Forums > American Pastoral (2016) Discussion > Weird character decisions.

Weird character decisions.

posted 8 years ago by Johanes_Calvi
4 replies | jump to latest

I haven't read this particular Roth novel, yet I was eagerly anticipating the release of this movie. It helped that the trailer looked brilliant.

I liked the movie to a certain extent. It's very well shot, it has a nice hypnotic tempo, I consider all of the actors to be decent, but the story is just weird.

I don't understand why these characters were behaving the way they did. I don't' mean to question Roth (or the screenwriter) but why has Mary turned this way? She had a lovely childhood, and she was a good kid. How come suddenly she harbors so much hatred?

Why did the Swede not beat the *beep* out of Rita? The scenes with Rita were very weird and the Swede was coming across as a very weak and pathetic human being, which is an antithesis of how he was introduced (as a brilliant young man, supremely talented). Why did he not react upon seeing his own wife, in his own house, fooling around with that guest (artist / architect)? Why did he not call the police when he found Mary? She would have been better in prison than slowly decaying in that derelict building.

Why does the brother (Swede's brother) is always unsympathetic to the situation? (That probably could be explained as jealousy since he was always in his brother's shadow).

Why is the doctor spouting nonsense to the parents about Mary's stutter? (I don't believe her theories for a second.) And why would a doctor essentially radicalize a kid?

I really wanted to love the movie but I just couldn't understand or relate to the characters.

[–] neamtzu_rau 8 years ago

I don't understand why these characters were behaving the way they did. I don't' mean to question Roth (or the screenwriter) but why has Mary turned this way? She had a lovely childhood, and she was a good kid. How come suddenly she harbors so much hatred?

She was a spoiled brat.
Also, had no idea of how the world works.

When she saw that monk burning was her wakening up to reality.
Instead of admitting that the world is a terrible place, with or without her help, she blames the state of things on her parents, because they're available and at hand.

She's a coward.

But still, did not deserve to suffer what she did.
Nor did her father.

Boy, I hated her.

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[–] Dejay 8 years ago

Yeah exactly a spoiled brat. I think this story explores a kind of puzzle. What makes a child this way? What did the parents do wrong? And it's kind of subtle and hard to see and easy to miss just like in real life.

The psychologist was horrible, but I think she was somewhat right with her theory. Her studder was clearly psychological, so it was some kind of unconscious strategy. The parents never set her boundaries, so she kept pushing them. The philosophical question of what is life, what should I do, why are we here. She got nothing from her parents except: just a short span of time until you die.

The parents DID have character flaws, the father did act unintelligently trying to save his daughter. Just like everyone says, but this means something is wrong with the swede as well and how they both raised their kids. Not that it's their fault, but an unlucky combination of personalities.

In a sense, the doctor, the swede and his wife dawnie and merry they are all naive and unable to deal with reality, and all make terrible mistakes.

Maybe it's a story of how you can't afford to be naive?

[–] Siamois 8 years ago

why these characters were behaving the way they did. I don't' mean to question Roth (or the screenwriter) but why has Mary turned this way? She had a lovely childhood, and she was a good kid. How come suddenly she harbors so much hatred?

Why did the Swede not beat the *beep* out of Rita? The scenes with Rita were very weird and the Swede was coming across as a very weak and pathetic human being, which is an antithesis of how he was introduced (as a brilliant young man, supremely talented). Why did he not react upon seeing his own wife, in his own house, fooling around with that guest (artist / architect)? Why did he not call the police when he found Mary? She would have been better in prison than slowly decaying in that derelict building.

Why does the brother (Swede's brother) is always unsympathetic to the situation? (That probably could be explained as jealousy since he was always in his brother's shadow).

Why is the doctor spouting nonsense to the parents about Mary's stutter? (I don't believe her theories for a second.) And why would a doctor essentially radicalize a kid?

Why ? Because these were poorly written characters in poorly written situations.

[–] brux (14729) 8 years ago

If you knew the true history of the USA you might be radicalized too.
I grew up during this time, probably 5-10 years younger than Merry,
and never had a clue. I watched the John Wayne war movies without a
thought. I was not until I was in my middle teens and I met people who
gave me books about politics and the truth about the Viet Nam war came
out that I began to wake up.

It did not make me want to bomb my neighbors or a post office, and in
this movie this was not done well. But then the whole movie was not done
well in my opinion. I could not make heads or tails of it.

But when you look at the history of the US threads of genocide, slavery,
imperialism that continue today, and then notice how different the US is,
and backwards, compared to the rest of the developed world it is nauseating.

What the US did in first Korea, and then Viet Nam really needs to be understood,
but instead it is not talked about and spun like it was saving the world. And I
am not dove either. I was for the deposing of Saddam Hussein, and same with
Assad in Syria. The world is messed up and the US could do a lot to help, but
we are messing up our country so badly the world thinks the US is the greatest
threat to peace.

I give the US a lot of latitude because these world problems are not anything
there is a recipe for or anyone knows how to solve, but there are a lot of things
we did that were unnecessary and brutal.